Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-03-29

building for the health and comfort OF its officers
and the convenience OF citizens. The late Con-
greSS failed TO meet this need, and no building
costing more than $4,000 per annum can for the
present even be rented. The Commissioners are
naturally dissatisfied with their present quarters
and are seeking others. It seems somewhat doubt
ful whether a suitable building can be obtained
for the money available. Under no temptation,
however, should the Commissioners sacrifice pub
lie convenience to private comfort by removing the
Offices away from the business center to some In
accessible point where large building may be
obtained at a cheap rent. There Will be mutter-
1ngs about the efforts OF an arstocratic govern
ment TO hide itself in some out-of-the-way corner
from the sight of the people. The jealousy of the
sections specially incommoded will be aroused. II
location on oath street is selected the east and
south will complain that the West End proclivi-
ties of the Commissioners are being carried TO an
extreme, and will sarcastically suggest site On
Massachusetts, avenue extended. III a building
east OF the Capitol is chosen the West End Will
send committee to Congress TO ventilate the
grievance But more important than sectional
discomfort is the fact that the great mass OF citi
zenS will be put TO Inconvenience by removal from
the business center. IL through the fault OF
our legislature the comfort OF our officials and
public convenience necessarily come in conflict
the former viii need to give way. and present in
convenieneeS viii need to be endured as one OF the
penalties OF being public servants. The predeces-
sOrs OF the present officers have managed TO get
along somehow in the Tattle-trap structure now
occupied, and the wise policy for the District is to
use thetinconvenienee and discomfort OF the pres
ent quarters as a standing argument with Con-
greSS for the erection of suitable building at q
convenient point for the Districts exclusive use.
III the Commissioners make themselves comfOrta-
bic at the expense of public convenience, in the
outskirts OF the city, the District government
building may be Indefinitely postponed.
Mr.. Suly expresses the opinion that all the rail-
roads OF any note in the United States will pres
emily be combined into few great systems, and
that this instead OF interfering with the rights Of
the people, VIII give them what they want-strong
companies, 'iwith the means to furnish the very
best appliances for the safe. comfortable and
rapid carriage of passengers and freight" Yes
that Is what the people want. but it is not all
they want, by great deal. 1t Is cold comfort for
creditor 10 know that his debtor has the means
TO pay, II he is too stingy or too INSCRIPTIONS to
pay. On like principle, il does the travelling
public little good to know that railway COM
pany is able TO provide all the necessares for safe
and rapid travel, if it won't provide them. The
Baltimore Ohio company is amply capable of
Improving the passenger service on its Washing
ton division The terrible disaster near T1f1in,
Ohio, did not occur because of any lack OF money
In the railway company'S treasury to pay for q
double track. The White River Junction horror
was not due to the lack of means on the part of
the owners OF the road TO buy heating and light
Ing apparatus OF modern pattern. The Roslin-
taie wreck was not the result OF the company's
liability TO keep its bridges in repair. What the
public want in a corporation is both the means
and the Will to do right. The one without the
other is Of little avail, and all the systematzing
and strengthening in the world will not protect
Inc patrons of a road which does business on the
principle OF getting much out of the public and
giving as little in return as the law will allow.
The resignation OF commissioner OF patents
because he cannot get rid OF the nagging Office
seekers suggests the query why, with the i'm
menSe resources of inventive genius under his eve
and at his command, he did not discover some
means OF holding his own against this nuisance.
Can IL be possible that. in nearly a century of
patent-granting, the United states government
has issued letters for the protection of no mechan
1cal or electric bouncer for the use of prosecuted
bureau chiefs? There are machines so shrewdly
contrived that their movements will respond only
TO the dropping Of a five-cent nickel into a slot
which yaWnS 10 receive ft. a cent, q dime even
Quarter-douar, VIII not do. Nothing but five
cent piece win set the wheels revolving or let
loose the hand on the dial or make the hidden
music-box give forth its melody. Now, why is not
an application of this familiar principle made to
euC OOOt VI ACCOMPLISHMENTS OlllCe1 why cannot
an arrangement be effected whereby the unselfish
friend, the admiring Constituent and the always
gentiemanly reporter may enter undisturbed, but
the bulldozing ofiice-seeker viii have the floor
open beneath his feet and his body drop into Dit
the instant he ventures to cross the threshold? A
man like Mr.. Montgomery, with two years of expe-
rlence as an investigator OF Inventions ought not
10 beSO easily put 10 rout.
correspondent OF THE STAR, In a recent COM
munieation, described in detail the evolution of
trousers as garment, and lamented the dis
appearance OF knee-breeches but suggested that
IL VIII require few men OF strong nerves to revive